A Father's Love
by Lady Giggles of Gryffindor
Summary: When his patience has been tested to the end, Snape must come to terms with the daughter whose life he was never a part of. Until now. An AU for OotP. Please R/R
1. Introductions

A/N: Ever since I lost my sister in a tragic car accident, I've been looking for an outlet for my emotions. Giggles always said that writing fan  
fiction was the best thing she ever started doing in her life. We both  
loved talking about Harry Potter, and one of our favorite topics was talking about "What if..?" situations. Something that always came up was the possibility of Snape having a child. I wasn't the biggest fan of Order of The Phoenix, so this fan fiction is going to be an AU fifth year fic.  
This is my first story to write, so please be gentle.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Anything that you recognize belongs  
to J. K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. I own anything that you don't  
recognize unless it is otherwise stated.  
  
A Father's Love  
  
Ch. 1  
  
Introductions  
  
Sitting alone in her room brushing her raven curls out of her face in the dark was how fourteen-year-old Emma Snape loved to spend her time. She hated her mother, and she couldn't wait for the day that she could move out. What she hated even more than her mother was her mother's latest boyfriend and his bratty son. Leonard Malfoy had to be the biggest jerk on the planet, and she always referred to his son Omar as a jerk-in-training. She hated every single thing about the pair of them: their white blonde hair, their sneering faces, their attitudes, but most of all she hated their money. She knew that money was the only reason her mother was going after Leonard anyway. Omar was nearly eleven and was going to be starting school soon, although Emma didn't know where, but all the soon to be fifteen-year-old hoped for was that the relationship would be over before then and she would never have to see them again.  
  
"Emmi.." Tulip yelled up the stairs. Emma inwardly groaned and quickly pretended to be asleep.  
  
"Emmiline.."her mother tried again. "Emmiline Catherine.." When there was no response, she walked into Emma's room. "I need to talk to you."  
  
Emma sighed and sat up. Her mother turned the light on and sat down on Emma's four-post bed.  
  
"Honey, you know that Leonard and I have been getting pretty serious lately, and we are ready to take our relationship to the next level. As the latest love interest, Leonard probably didn't know that she had said this about the last three men Tulip had dated. The pair of them had been together for almost a year, a year of having to put up with Omar, a year of feeling unwanted, basically a year of hell that Emma absolutely despised.  
  
The words "your father" jerked Emma's attention back to the conversation she was having with her mother.  
  
"Wait!" Emma interrupted. "Do you mean my biological father?" she asked incredulously.  
  
"Did you listen to a word that I just said?" Tulip snapped irritated.  
  
"Not really," was Emma's cool reply.  
  
"Well, the jest of it is that Leonard doesn't think much of you, and he thinks that you'll be a bad influence on Omar. We are planning to move out to California in three days time. Omar will be attending school there and we want him to get better acquainted with the area first. I've contacted YOUR FATHER and he will be picking you up tomorrow evening.  
  
"HANG ON JUST ONE DAMN MINUTE!" Emma yelled. "Precious Omar gets to live with his family, but I get kicked out of the house and thrown to a man who I DON'T KNOW, and who hasn't been a part of my life! That is ridiculously unfair."  
  
"You'll also be attending a school in England." Tulip smiled to herself as she stood up. She was finally rid of the brat. She was heading towards the door when she heard her daughter's voice asking her a question:  
  
"Will you tell me about him?"  
  
Tulip turned around slowly and hesitantly pulled the desk chair over to Emma's bed.  
  
"Your father and I attended Hogwarts together; we were both in Slytherin. He was two years older than I, but two years younger than Leonard. I met Severus Snape the summer before my first year. We were at a picnic at the Black's house, one of the finest wizarding families in Britain at the time. They've gone downhill since. But anyway, Severus didn't seem to keen to get to know me, much to my parent's disappointment. The Black's son Sirius was so handsome and charming with his angelic face and eyes the color of the sky on a crisp October morning. Sirius was my first real crush, and I fell hard too. But he was a Gryffindor, so my parents would never allow us to date. I thought that was the problem, but in reality they had other plans for me.  
  
"As the years went on, Severus and I grew closer. I noticed a continued pattern with his girlfriends though. Every time he and a girl would get serious, his parents would break them up. This continued even after he had graduated. He attended my graduation ceremony in mid-June at his parents urging. Later that evening we were told that we were betrothed to one another. We were married a week and a half later. Everything went well for six months or so, but soon we started fighting fairly often. Things started to gradually get better, until one day almost completely out of the blue, he announced that he wanted a divorce. That was nine months after our wedding. I delivered you a little over five months later. That August. Up until a few days ago, Severus knew nothing of your existence."  
  
"Wow," Emma whispered under her breath.  
  
"And now, young lady," Tulip said as she stood up and pushed the chair back over to the desk, "he is a school teacher and his term ended today. Now go to bed! Leonard and Omar will be here early tomorrow to help you pack up." And with that, Tulip licked the lights out and shut the door.  
  
As soon as she heard her mother's footsteps die away and here her door click shut, Emma sat up in bed, fuming. This was the most unfair thing that she had heard of in her entire life. She was being thrown out of her house to make room for some spoiled snotty brat that came from one of the wealthiest families in the world. She was even going to have to transfer schools.  
  
It wasn't that she was going to miss her school. She attended Indiana Academy of Witchcraft, a private school for girls who were extremely talented in one or more areas of magic. Emma was equally talented in Charms and Transfiguration, but she was just about average in everything else. Except Potions. To say that she was average on Potions would be a stretch on even one of her spectacular days. Normally, her potions boiled over, exploded, melted her cauldron, and injured someone, and that all occurred in about two days time.  
  
It seemed like barely five minutes had passed between the time Emma finally dozed off to sleep and the time that she was awoken by an unfamiliar rapping on her door.  
  
"Get up you lazy brat," Leonard called extremely irritated after having been knocking for almost ten minutes.  
  
"Huh?" Emma replied groggily.  
  
Leonard opened her door, stormed in and got right down in her face.  
  
"I dressed as a Muggle today," Leonard said dangerously. "If you aren't downstairs, dressed and ready to help in five minutes, I will take this belt off, and you won't sit properly again until sometime next week. Do I make myself clear?"  
  
Emma sat bolt upright and nodded. Leonard stormed out and slammed her door. She dressed quickly, washed her face, brushed her teeth and was downstairs in two minutes flat.  
  
Omar was sitting on the couch watching the wizarding news station. When he heard Emma he turned around and grinned. "I'd love to have you join me Emmiline," the pale blonde boy said with a sneer, "but I suppose you're far to bust packing for your trip to England aren't you?" He sniggered his way through this statement.  
  
"That's enough Omar," Tulip said as she suppressed a smile. "Let's go  
shopping."  
  
"Okay," Omar shouted gleefully as he jumped off the couch.  
  
As soon as they were gone, Emma started asking questions to Leonard.  
  
"Did you go to Hogwarts, Leonard?"  
  
"What did I tell you to call me?" he snapped back.  
  
"Sorry sir," Emma said with fake sincerity.  
  
"That's quite alright, but don't let it happen again. And yes, I did  
go to Hogwarts. My brother was two years above her, and I was two  
years above him."  
  
The pair continued working for another good thirty minutes, almost lunchtime.  
  
"Would you like some lunch Leonar..I mean sir?"  
  
"Emmiline Catherine......What did you just call me?" he growled dangerously.  
  
"Sir," Emma answered meekly.  
  
"You just called me by my first name again! You need to be punished young lady! I think....yes...Go stand in that corner until you've learned to mind your elders.  
  
Emma's jaw dropped open. "I am NOT an eight-year-old child, and refuse to be treated like one! I am not going to stand in that corner!" she declared indignantly.  
  
"When you act like a child, you are treated like one," said Leonard simply, pulling out his wand, and as though an invisible force were moving her, Emma was relocated in the corner.  
  
After thirty minutes, Leonard called to her from the other room, "Are you packed up?"  
  
"Yes, L...sir," Emma said mockingly.  
  
"Wise move," said a strange voice from shadows in the room.  
  
Emma turned to face the speaker as Leonard entered the room. "I don't believe I said you could move," he snarled at her.  
  
"And I don't believe that you are her father," said the voice again, this time stepping out from behind the boxes. Emma looked at him, and noticed many things. They had the same wavy black hair, although hers curled more and was nowhere near as greasy as his. They had the same high cheekbones, the same warm complexion, and the same almond-shaped eyes. His however were black instead of the dark honey color hers were.  
  
"Hello Severus," Leonard said coolly.  
  
"Leonard." The man simply nodded in greeting. "I've talked to your brother recently. Says he wishes that the two of you spent more time together." Severus was using a voice that made Emma feel as though she had done something and was about to be punished for it. It sent chills up and down her spine.  
  
"And your Emmiline, I presume," Severus said pulling her away from the corner.  
  
" Dad?" Emma whispered the question.  
  
Severus nodded and told her to go get her things. When she came back down the stairs with her trunk and only one duffel bag, Severus managed to hide his shock. He pulled out his wand, shrunk them quickly, and shoved them in his pocket.  
  
"C'mon," he whispered. "Let's go get some lunch." He took her hand and the pair of them apparated to Hogsmeade.  
  
A/N: Okay, thanks for taking the time to read this. Please read and review. I promise I will take every review and comment into account. If there are mistakes, please let me know about them so I can correct them. Please review. They make my day!  
  
Now I have a question that I hope I can get some help on:  
  
Do you think that Severus should be really strict  
  
Or really easy going, letting her get away with too much and then have to buckle down later in the story.  
  
Thank you,  
  
Lady Giggles 


	2. Exploring

I want to thank all my wonderful reviewers:  
  
Kara  
  
All who wander  
  
Samantha  
  
Arwen Granger  
  
Liz  
  
Boom  
  
Ravenclaw Lass  
  
The Social Lepper  
  
Becki  
  
Your comments mean so much to me!  
  
Disclaimer: Everything you recognize from canon, I don't own. Anything you recognize from other peoples fics, I'm using it w/ their permission, and everything you don't recognize, or you recognize from one of my fics, I own!! If I owned Harry Potter, my baby would still be alive! Poor Puppy!  
  
A Father's Love  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Emma and Severus walked into a restaurant called Moon Dance. It was a quiet little diner with navy blue velvet walls that appeared to have stars shining off of it. Emma looked around, awed by the realistic nature of the building. It made her feel as though she was walking through an enchanted garden at midnight.  
  
"Do you like it?" Severus asked with a slight smile.  
  
"I do," Emma replied, still gazing around. "I like it a lot."  
  
"Wonderful," Severus grinned. The pair of them sat down at the table, and looked over the menus. "All you have to do is say what you want, and the server will bring it out to you. For example, I'll have the chicken cordon bleu meal with pumpkin juice to drink. Now it's your turn."  
  
"I'll have the chicken salad sandwich on wheat bread with a side of fruit salad and iced tea to drink please." Emma said after a moment's hesitation.  
  
A waiter appeared almost instantly with a tray of food. He set it down on the table, tried to glare inconspicuously at Severus and then walked away. Emma and Severus ate in silence for a while before either attempted to talk. Soon Severus broke the silence.  
  
"Emmiline, there are going to be some things that you need to know about me, things that very few people know of. I can't tell you here, but I promise to tell you when we get back to Hogwarts. I'm very sorry if some of this comes as a shock to you."  
  
"Dad, I don't think there is a whole lot that could surprise me after all that has happened in two days. If someone told me two weeks ago that my mother and her boyfriend were going to throw me out of the house to live with my father, I'd have said that they'd gone mental. And please don't call me Emmiline. Emma or Emmi works fine." Emma smiled at him.  
  
"Okay, Emma," Severus said trying to hide his amusement at her description of the situation. "The whole mess sounds a lot worse than what it actually was when you put it that way."  
  
Emma laughed and Severus couldn't help but think how much like his sister she sounded. He sighed to himself. He had to stop thinking about Kara. She was as far gone as she could be without being completely dead.  
  
"What do you like to do in your free time?" Severus asked.  
  
"Well, at IAW we didn't have a whole lot of free time, but we did have activities that were used as part of our course material."  
  
"Really?" Severus asked. "Tell me about one of your normal days at your old school."  
  
"All of us had to wake up at 6:30. Breakfast was from seven to seven thirty. We had class from 7:30 to 9:30 and a break from 9:30 to ten. Ten to noon was the second class, and then lunch was from noon to 12:30. Afterwards we had our activity classes. I took different forms of dance in the afternoon, and played quidditch in the evening. Then we did homework and went to bed. Everyday was like that except Saturday and Sunday. We just got to rest and relax over the weekend. I'm really going to miss it there," Emma said with a far off look in her eyes.  
  
"What types of dance did you take?" Severus asked.  
  
"Tap, Jazz, Ballet, a separate Pointe class, Lyrical, Modern, Hip Hop, and Pantomime." Emma recited very quickly. Severus was shocked that she had taken so many classes.  
  
"Let's head back to Hogwarts," Severus said and stood up. He looked at Emma, fully prepared for her to follow his lead, but much to his shock, she pulled out a needle with some liquid in it and stuck it in herself. "What the bloody hell was that for?" Severus asked, completely shocked.  
  
"I'm diabetic," Emma stated simply. Noting the questioning look on Severus face, she continued. "It means that my pancreas doesn't produce insulin, so instead of my body breaking my food down so I can use it, it all rushes into my blood stream, so my blood sugar sky rockets and if I don't take insulin, I could get really sick."  
  
"I know what it is, I just didn't know that wizards and witches got it," Severus clarified.  
  
"Well, they do. It just isn't very common, and there is no cure for it, as of yet anyway." Emma smiled. "It's not that big of a deal! I just have to watch what I eat, and take my shots and make sure I don't get too high or too low." She said as they were headed towards the castle.  
  
Emma took a sharp breath when she saw the castle, and whispered, "It's amazing."  
  
Severus laughed at her reaction. "It is, isn't it?"  
  
The two entered the castle, and headed towards the dungeons. Severus turned left into his office and Emma followed him. She looked in awe at the jars of random potion ingredients that were carefully labeled floating around by the walls.  
  
"This is my office. I'll show you the teacher's sleeping quarters a little bit later. I've got a little bit of work to do, but later on I can show you around the rest of the castle," Her father declared, "or since most of the teachers stay here over the summer, and if you would like to do a little bit of exploring on your own, you may do so. Dinner will be served at 6:00, so please do not be late. We'll talk afterwards. Alright?"  
  
"Yah, I'll just walk around and try not to get too lost," Emma said with a smile.  
  
Severus rolled his eyes as he said, "The ghosts are almost always happy to help too."  
  
Emma smiled and shook her hair out as she exited the office. Where should I go first? she thought to herself. She saw a set of stone steps leading up on her left hand side and started up them. She entered a big hall with a marble floor. She glanced around, and saw an old man with very long white hair and a very long white beard walking towards her.  
  
"You must be Emmiline," The old man said. When she nodded, he continued. "I'm Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts."  
  
"It's a pleasure to meet you sir, and please call me Emma," She responded.  
  
"Well Emma, I am delighted to welcome you to our school. I do hope that you will enjoy it here." Emma loved the way his eyes twinkled as he smiled.  
  
"Thank you very much sir," Emma couldn't help but smile at the kind Professor.  
  
"You're quite welcome Emma, and enough with this sir business, you may call me Albus. As it is summer, there is no need to be formal. Is there anything in particular that you are looking for right now?"  
  
"No, I'm just exploring right now, but thank you very much si....Albus."  
  
"Have a good day then." He gave Emma one last smile, and headed down to the dungeons.  
  
Emma walked into a large room where four very long tables filled up the room, with one across the very front of the room. "This must be where they eat," she said aloud.  
  
"Very good missy. This is the Great Hall," said a voice from behind her.  
  
Emma turned and jumped at what she saw. "Thanks." Ah, ghost, she thought to herself.  
  
"You must be Severus' little girl." Emma nodded her head. "I'm the Fat Friar, resident ghost of Hufflepuff. Pleasure to meet you Miss, now if you'll excuse me, I'm on my way to a meeting." And with a tilt of his head, he continued on his path.  
  
Emma spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and exploring things. She was now able to find general things. She had met a lot of teachers, but she could hardly remember any of them except Professor McGonagall who taught Transfiguration, and tiny little Professor Flitwick who taught Charms. Everyone seemed really nice to her, and she was excited about the prospect of making a lot of new friends. During dinner, she sat quietly and listened rather than talked. It was interesting to hear the stories about what had happened towards the end of term, what changes they thought out to be made for the next year, and also, whom they thought was going to get the highest exam scores.  
  
Emma was asked several times about her social life, her favorite classes, and what she liked to do in her free time. She always responded with a smile and cheerful answer. Inside, she felt, for the first time in her life truly accepted into a family.  
  
At the end of dinner, everyone gradually broke away, but Severus was still involved in a conversation with Albus. Emma waited patiently for her father to get done, but at the same time, she was trying to overhear their conversation. She caught words such as "friends," "Potter," "know-it-all," and "Malfoy."  
  
Severus, noticing that Emma was listening, stood up. "I'll talk to you later tonight, Albus."  
  
"Very well, Severus. Good night Emma."  
  
"Goodnight," Emma responded with one of her trademark smiles.  
  
"Come along, we have a lot to talk about." Severus was walking very briskly. "Ah, here we are."  
  
A/N Thanks for taking the time to read this! Please R/R, and I'll give you a cookie!!!! Not really, but if it is incentive, you can have an invisible one! Flames will be extinguished!!!!!  
  
XOXO  
  
Lady Giggles 


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